Twist to Sundowns tourney

The games will still feature hosts Sundowns, CAPS United, Black Leopards and Zambian champions Power Dynamos who are in South Africa as part of their preparations for the Champions League.
Sundowns’ public relations officer, Kabelo Mosito, yesterday told the South African media that the games will not be official contests after they failed to get the nod from the Safa to host the event.
Mosito said fans will not be allowed into the stadium to watch their teams in action.
Sundowns had overlooked the agreement between Caf and its affiliates, who include Safa, which prohibits them from engaging in internationally organised football tournaments during the Nations Cup finals.
The Brazilians are currently leading the Absa Premiership and had hoped to use the tournament to fine-tune their team before the resumption of their league programme in February.
The South African Premier Soccer League games are currently suspended to pave way for the African Cup of Nations finals talking place in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
“Supporters will not be able to attend as the games will be held behind closed doors,” said Mosito.
“Downs’ technical team still hope that the games will give them the challenge to prepare the team for the resumption of the league in February, and to try out new combinations.
“We are told that Caf and Safa agreed that there will be no country or club which will play an organised international tournament during the period of the Afcon finals. We had written to the PSL to request for permission to hold the games.
“But they had to involve the other associations as there were international teams, and (that’s when) we were told that it won’t be possible as a directive was issued from Caf via Safa that such tournaments won’t be allowed in such time.”
CAPS United are expected to leave for South Africa tonight and coach Lloyd Chitembwe, who helped the club to a respectable finish last year, yesterday hailed the friendly games as an opportunity to assess his team ahead of the new season.
Makepekepe were invited for the tournament together with rivals Dynamos but the Glamour Boys pulled out and were replaced by Zambia’s Power Dynamos.
Chitembwe said this will be their first practice game during the pre-season and is eager for the experience.
“It’s a training game and we want it to serve its purpose,” said Chitembwe.
“All I can say is that we have been training since January 9 and are taking the real CAPS United players on this tour because those who featured in that practice match against Motor Action are not ours.
“They were on trials and we needed to give them an opportunity,” he said.